This invention generally relates to food products that can be reconstituted for consumption and methods of making them. Flavorings, including syrups, flowable toppings, and/or fruits are added to pre-baked cereal-based products, such as waffles, pancakes, corn breads, or other food products, prior to commercial distribution or at the point of consumption. When heated, these ready-to-eat food products have a taste, appearance, and texture similar to cooked cereal-based products prepared by conventional methods. This invention improves the identity, convenience, and portability of the food product for consumers, allowing them to enjoy the sensory attributes of flavored syrups and flavored toppings and makes it easier for quick service restaurants to prepare and deliver the food products to the consumer.
Consumers have previously not been able to enjoy convenient and portable food products with flavored syrup or flavored flowable topping. With the rise in consumer need for convenience foods that simulate homemade, traditional meal selections, there is a significant need for frozen, refrigerated, or shelf-stable precooked foods that can be served from a variety of vendors, namely quick service restaurants, that allow consumers to xe2x80x9ceat-on-the-go.xe2x80x9d Consumers using xe2x80x9ceat-on-the-goxe2x80x9d products enjoy the portable convenience of consuming food products in their vehicles or during other activities.
Prior to the present invention, however, vendors have been limited to offering traditional favorite meals such as pancakes, waffles, corn breads, or other food products with flavored syrups as plated meals for a traditional, xe2x80x9csit-downxe2x80x9d consumption. Additionally, these food products have required the use of eating utensils including knives and forks. The prior art required the consumer to grapple with a separate packet or container of syrup or flavored topping and to apply this flavored syrup or flavored topping to the food product. Alternatively, consumers have been forced to endure flavored syrups or flavored toppings that possessed significantly thickened viscosities or unacceptable imitations such as gels, gums, icings, frostings, or glazes, thus destroying any identity as flavored syrups or flavored flowable toppings.
Manufacturers of food products thus face two major problems. First, the prior art has failed in providing an effective method for applying commercially available flavored table syrups and flavored toppings to food products in a manner such that these flavored syrups and flavored toppings do not significantly absorb into the crust and/or crumb either prior to or after reconstitution. This absorption destroyed the flavoring""s identity. Second, the prior art has failed to show an effective method for developing and applying a flavoring that delivers the visual, flavored, and textural identity of a flavored syrup or flavored topping after reconstitution without dripping or otherwise making a sticky mess that would hamper the portable convenience of the food product.
The present invention overcomes these shortcomings of the prior art. In one embodiment, a plurality of flavoring inclusions that closely resemble droplets of commercially available table syrup may be interspersed within an interior crumb of the food product. Additionally or alternatively, in another embodiment, a flavoring may be applied to an exteriormost surface of the food product. This flavoring is not absorbed into a crust or crumb of the food product before, during, or after reconstitution of the food product. Moreover, the flavoring simulates a flavored table syrup or flavored topping after reconstitution. After reconstitution, the flavoring does not run or drip if eaten cut, sliced, tilted, or inverted for short periods. The present invention thus offers consumers traditional meals including pancakes, waffles, corn breads, and other related food products, including chemically leavened, yeast leavened, and unleavened food products, with flavoring toppings and/or flavoring inclusions while not forcing the consumer to grapple with separate containers or cumbersome eating utensils. Therefore, the present invention offers a portable convenience while delivering an authentic, traditional meal experience that captures consumers"" desire for the appearance, flavor, and eating texture of flavored syrup while obviating the mess and inconvenience of having to add a flavored syrup or a flavored topping from a separate container. The present invention also includes methods of making the food product with either flavoring toppings or flavoring inclusions or with both. The concept and features of the present invention, however, are broad in scope in that the characteristic properties of both the flavoring toppings and the flavoring inclusions themselves can be applied, marketed, and sold separately for use in manufacturing or consumer preparation of food products.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and advantages of several embodiments of the present invention so that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiments disclosed may be readily used as a basis for modifying or designing other formulations or methods of manufacture for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do no depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.